Birds of Prey #1 review

I do like a ‘getting the gang together’ issue, and the debut number of the latest Birds of Prey is a terrific example of the trope. We begin with Black Canary talking to partner Green Arrow about the mission for which she’s gathering a team.

This immediately raises intriguing questions – who is ‘she’, why doesn’t she want Barbara Gordon involved, and how on earth are you going to keep the creator of Birds of Prey – the world’s greatest information detective – from noticing whatever is going on?

Especially when the first person Dinah goes to for help is one of Babs’ protégés, Batgirl Cassandra Cain.

Surely Oracle has a microphone in Cassandra’s mask that activates when familiar voices – like Dinah’s – are in range? Maybe that will come up later. Anyway, on hearing Dinah needs help rescuing her ‘sister’ Sin, Batgirl agrees – she’s big into family.

Less keen is the heroine Dinah asks Cassandra to recruit. Big Barda is helped by Batgirl with a vampire incursion at a pub named… Big Bar.

Meanwhile, Dinah is signing up another Amazon-type, Zealot, waking her with a whistle.

That’s four members. But Dinah needs someone else, an X factor, and asks for suggestions. Batgirl tentatively nominates Harley Quinn, whom she encountered awhile back. She tells the tale.. in her head, mostly.

The ladies are a tad non-plussed.

Despite not being convinced, Dinah trusts Cassandra’s instincts enough to find Harley.

That’s telling Dinah! On finding out that Sin is in danger, Harley won’t countenance not being involved in the rescue. And as the new team gathers for a proper briefing, the final, so-far-secret member is revealed.

She’s named Meridian. But it’s not the one from Primal Force, people as old as me… I’ll let you learn who she is when you buy the book.

You are buying the book, aren’t you? It’s written by Kelly Thompson of Captain Marvel fame making her DC series debut and it’s full of her signature snappy dialogue, clever characterisation and well-placed action. Dinah is the legacy star of the show and is presented as the veteran power player she is, but far from perfect. Cassandra Caine is more fun than I’ve ever found her, Barda is a hoot and Zealot… I honestly have no idea, having not read anything with her in it. Why is Dinah whistling at her rather than just knocking on the door of the greenhouse in which she lives? Why is she coughing?

As for Harley, she is just brilliant. On hearing she was a cast member I was disappointed – I know she’s hugely popular, and I’ve found many of her appearances enjoyable, but an official good guy? How would Thompson make that work? Or would she just have her pre-approved by the new BoP? Happily, we’re shown Dinah struggling with the idea while Harley’s emotional intelligence and psychologist’s nous shows she can surprise outside of a fight.

Centring the story on the search for Sin, who I don’t think has appeared since Gail Simone’s legendary BoP run, is an interesting choice. I’d forgotten about her, to be honest, but if we need someone with a personal connection to Dinah who isn’t also strongly linked to Green Arrow, she’s the choice.

The combination of illustrator Leonardo Romero and colour artist Jordi Bellaire is transcendent – Birds of Prey #1 is the among the most gorgeous books DC has put out in a long time. Romero’s characters are distinct in body type and facial features, the expressions are always perfect for the moment, the fight scenes are incredible and the backgrounds sharp. And the storytelling is clear as a bell.

Bellaire’s colour sense is as apparent as ever, providing contrast and candy as applicable, but it’s never more impressive than in Cassandra’s flashback sequence, with its deliberately imprecise application of a limited palette of tones.

The talented Clayton Cowles keeps his font choices unshowy, so they’re not fighting with the art, and it’s a wise move.

Is this book perfect? I can find tiny quibble points – Ollie’s hair has an odd pink tinge, Batgirl’s mouth stitching is too prominent, DC’s insistence on treating scene-setting captions as if they were sentences that require a full stop… And why is this first chapter called ‘Megadeath,’ – what’s with the comma?

But the heck with it, overall I loved this Ben Abernathy-edited issue, beginning with Romero and Bellaire’s delightfully jolly cover image – I was tickled by the strapline calling back to 1998’s Birds of Prey #1, which was ‘Breaking hearts and faces monthly’. On the basis of this debut, I hope this new version shows up monthly for a good while.